Han-lapse

April 13, 2010

Thom and Chris (and later Jim Day) were giving Votto all sorts of grief for “locking up” on a ball in the bottom of the 9th, where he looked to second (and it looked like he had no angle to throw) and then didn’t get a chance to flip it to Masset covering first. But with the timing of Masset’s arrival at first (looked like he had some trouble finding the bag) and Uggla’s getting down there in a hurry, it looked to me like it would have been a bang-bang play had Votto had a chance to toss it to him. Personally, I don’t think a toss/throw necessarily would’ve beat Uggla.

I’d argue that Hanley Ramirez was actually the unsung goat. A throw that could’ve gotten the lead runner was not made in the top of the 10th on a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Phillips right to pitcher Burke Badenhop because no one was near second base to receive it. As you can see, Hanley Ramirez didn’t even cover second. (Though Badenhop didn’t look that way for long if at all either.) And if he had, I think a quick throw gets Votto at second. I’m not saying they could’ve turned two, but with Phillips on first instead of Votto on second, Phillips only gets to third on Rolen’s single. Bruce and Gomes struck out. The score remains tied at 5, right? Just sayin’ I thought Hanley’s mental error was more of a factor than Votto’s perceived “lockup,” (“inexplicable,” Jim Day called it) but I’d be curious to find out what others who watched it thought. Maybe even one of the 82 fans in attendance at Sun Life Stadium could chime in.

4 Comments

Looked to me like Masset thought Votto had thrown it to second and once he found the bag, he never actually looked at Votto, but was looking for the throw coming from second. When Votto double-clutched, it was because Masset wasn’t looking at him and probably would have dropped the ball, possibly allowing the runners to advance. Chris Welch was nailing Masset for PFP before Thom railed on Votto, and Welch seemed to just drop it. Either way, it wasn’t pretty.

The play at first was bad all around, but hard to pin it all on Votto, as Thom was. Gotta say that Joey’s initial move to throw to second was correct… and holding it when he didn’t think he would get the out was okay. The arm action really had Masset thinking the ball was going to be coming back from second. I don’t blame him.

Votto holding the ball at that point was the best play he had at that point. If he would have thrown it away, Reds lose. As bad as the play looked, at least they still had a chance at the ballgame after that – and they ended up winning. Phew!

Yeah, I thought Masset wasn’t looking at Votto and thats why Votto didn’t throw it. Even when they replayed it I thought it was pretty obvious Masset wasn’t looking at Votto, but Thom decided to lay into Votto.

As for Hanley not covering second, looking at that screen shot you have, I think its Uggla that should be covering second. Although, Hanley is right there so I could be totally wrong. And it does look like had he been covering, a throw to second could have beaten Votto to the bag.